


Aliens Made Them Do It

by JUBE514



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Art, Forced Marriage, Illustrated, M/M, Shance Secret Santa 2017, Shiro being unsure of himself, Space Husbands, Truth Serum, a gift, random space aliens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 10:06:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13074609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JUBE514/pseuds/JUBE514
Summary: Shiro looks at the bracelet around his flesh wrist and then up at Lance, who’s sitting across from him.They’re cramped up in what amounts to a glorified box, on the back of some alien lion-camel thing, and on their way to go through a trial.To get married.





	Aliens Made Them Do It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [robotjellyfish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotjellyfish/gifts).



Shiro looks at the bracelet around his flesh wrist and then up at Lance, who’s sitting across from him. 

They’re cramped up in what amounts to a glorified box, on the back of some alien lion-camel thing, and on their way to go through a trial. 

To get married. 

The alien’s Allura wanted to join the cause and fight with Voltron had wanted a marriage to occur to seal the deal, so to speak, and Shiro was the one they asked. Shiro, having gotten a proposition or two before, just answered with his usual spiel that he was already in a relationship with someone else and he would love to, really, but sorry humans are monogamous and it would be against his own culture's rules. 

The aliens, (whose name for their species was Cilantro and Coran couldn’t figure out why all the paladins were laughing so hard) turned to the only other paladin there and asked Lance if he wanted to be married to the eldest in line to the throne. 

And Shiro, without thinking, jumped to Lance’s aid with a “The blue paladin is the one I’m courting.” 

The aliens freaked out, happily declaring that the wedding would be between the two paladins and it would cement the treaty about trade routes for generations to come. How lucky they were to have the two courting paladins in their midst. The marriage will keep the treaty in place and perfect. 

And Shiro couldn’t bring himself to look at Lance. 

Because Shiro might have had a small crush on Lance. Might have admired from afar his quick expressive eyes, the way he moves, the sharp lines of his body. Shiro might have waxed on and on about Lance to Keith late at night, listened whenever Hunk mentioned Lance in a story, laughed when Pidge roped Lance into one of her pranks. Without thinking, of the consequences or anything else, Shiro has just jumped at the chance to both get to say aloud that he was dating Lance and to stop the aliens from asking Lance to marry another. 

So now they were being taken to the traditional marriage spot, having been given soft lace bracelets that connected to a metal ring on the middle finger. Shiro tried not to mess with it, the lace seemed delicate even if it was beautiful to look at, Lance had already accidentally undid a loop in the lace, cursing softly as he fixes it by tucking the spare strands under the tight bracelet. 

Because they had to wear the bracelets on their skin, both of them had to take off the upper armour, peeling the flightsuit off their torso and tying the arms at their waist like they were from the 1990’s. Shiro didn't have a shirt to cover his torso, but Lance had a change of clothes in his lion so he was wearing his baseball tee. Shiro had to physically take his eyes off of Lance’s legs in only his flight suit, without the armour to cover the lean muscles. 

“I’m sorry.” Shiro says, breaking the relative silence. 

Lance glances up, and smiles. “For what?” 

“For getting you roped into this mess.” Shiro motions to the small box that they both sit in, their knees touching with every bump in the road. “It’s unfair to you.” 

Lance’s smile goes a little watery around the edges, “Well, I didn't exactly imagine this as my wedding day, but it's also not the worst thing that could happen.” Lance’s eyes immediately go wide, “Wait! That’s not what I meant! Don’t jinx me!” He leans over and knocks on the wall beside Shiro’s head, citing the ‘knock-on-wood’ to ask for protection against bad luck. 

“Superstitious?” Shiro laughs. “You’ve already seen your bride on our wedding day.” Shiro bats his eyelashes, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/154446941@N04/39170945701/in/dateposted-public/)

Lance blushes deep red, up to his ears, and Shiro feels his heart skip a beat. Lance is stuttering out something or other, but Shiro’s caught up in Lance’s soft smile, blue eyes, the little freckles that spark out across his skin like stars. 

Lance buries his face in his hands, a bright smile peaks from underneath his long fingers, Shiro is laughing, feeling a warmth bloom in his chest from Lance’s blush. 

They talk, back and forth, until the lion-camel thing stops and the aliens help them climb down from the box. The planet is a mess of purple and pink trees, the sky a curious soft pastel color. The aliens have six limbs, and kinda look like elven insects. They didn't seem to have genders, just different colored patches of scales on their chin. They were a little shorter than humans, about to Lance’s shoulders, but all of the royal court had come out to witness the marriage. 

The monarch was dressed in jewelry that shimmered a deep blue, connected by the same delicate lace that now decorated both Shiro and Lance’s wrist. The monarch was talking to a noble when they spotted the two paladins, and they quickly called for the ceremony to start. 

Four priests, all of wearing different kinds of patterned scarves, and all the nobles arranged around them sitting in a circle carefully poised. Lance and Shiro were moved to the middle, in between the four priests, and asked to hold the hands that had the bracelets, skin to skin, lace to lace. The priests began to chant something or other, and one of them moved forward, a slimy pinkish substance in their hands. 

They covered Shiro and Lance’s connected hands in the slimy pink stuff, and Shiro is struck by how much it feels like Germ-x, even down to the chill it leaves behind when it dries fast to the lace. It tingles, burns like ice down where it touched, and makes the lace glow a shiny blue color, Shiro feels where he and Lance connect because that's where the slime burns the brightest. It feels like a fire, but it doesn't hurt. 

The chanting is background noise, the loudest sound is Shiro’s heartbeat in his ears, the steady rhythm of a thunderstorm. Shiro’s looking into Lance’s eyes, the bright blue burning even hotter, a sharp ice that Shiro wants to fall into. There is no breeze to take away the heat in between them, just the stagnant hot air that boils as they continue to hold onto one another. 

It takes only about a minute before the aliens separate their hands, and Shiro feels the loss with the sudden chill that permeated his palm. 

“The trial shall commence,” one of the priests spoke, “blessed, both of you.” 

Another priest steps forward, in a deep bow, “Your trial is in the delicate nature of the marriage, it easily breaking at the slightest pressure but beautiful to behold.” 

Another, “The lace will last for twenty-six spicolion movements, its power over you lasting the same amount.” 

“The lace is the truth, and only the truth. You must speak it, live it, love it. No lies allowed when the lace graces your loved one.” 

The priests bow now, synchronized and to the lowest possible position for a race with six limbs. The nobles clap, cheering is heard, and the monarch is also bowing, not as deep. 

Lance looks a little confused. A little worried. He brings his hand up, the one with the lace, and begins to bite at the nail before remembering he shouldn’t and just taps his lip instead. He’s thinking. His blue eyes shine in the pastel world of pinks around them, his freckles pop while a blush graced his ears. A small crease between his brows makes Shiro want to smooth it away with his thumb. 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/154446941@N04/39144149612/in/dateposted-public/)

But Shiro’s the leader, older than Lance, a commanding officer, and he can’t just take advantage like that. Especially after this whole marriage instance. 

But the words of the aliens begin to ring in Shiro’s head. The meaning coming through over the filtered translation. 

They have to tell the truth. It’s a truth serum. The lace/goop mixture. If it works then Shiro and Lance both have to tell the truth, and how long did the alien say this would last?

“Twenty-six spicolion moments.” Lance is saying, both to himself and Shiro, counting to himself by tapping his finger against his lip. “That’s about, hm, a hundred and thirty days. That’s about four months.” 

Four months? That was a long time to be under the influence of truth serum, especially if Shiro is dealing with alliance after alliance, having to white lie about various things around the ship (Allura’s bedhead, Coran’s cooking, Hunk’s artwork, Pidge’s singing when she works, Keith's terrible dancing when he’s cleaning, Lance’s spanish ramblings that he didn't know the translator made understandable) made things there easier to live with. Not being able to just smile and cover it all up would be frankly a nightmare. 

Before either could question exactly the perimeters of this whole deal, the monarch placed their hands together, in a silencing clap that placed quiet over the whole crowd. 

“Blue paladin.” The monarch moves forward now, standing in front of Lance and Shiro, “please ask the Black paladin if he will do everything in his power to protect and honor our agreement, the alliance.” 

Lance looks a little confused, but turns to Shiro and asks what the monarch wanted. 

Shiro felt the answer bubble up in his throat, and the “Everything I can, Voltron is trying to do right by the entire universe.” comes out unbidden, without thought, the god's honest truth from right underneath his heart. 

Shiro’s face remains carefully blank as the aliens cheer and the lace on his wrists burn. 

\--

“This is wonderful!” Allura says when Shiro and Lance get back to the Castle of Lions and explain what had happened. She’s got her hair up in a ponytail after a three day video conference with other allies, she looks exhausted but happy to hear that they have another ally in the war against the Galra. She also congratulated them on the marriage, telling both Shiro and Lance to go Coran because he knew more about it than she did.

Coran did apparently know more, so much more, like a wild amount of more. Coran told Shiro and Lance that the Cilatrian marriage only affected the two in the marriage, so Lance and Shiro couldn’t lie to one another but could continue to lie to everyone else. The lace would slowly untangle itself over the course of four months, as long as the lace stayed on and touched skin it would force the truth for its match. Coran apparently had participated in one of these marriages before, because they don't actually mean anything outside of the Cilatrian race. The mariages also gave a person a great advantage in the political scene because of the forced truth, nobody would -could- distrust you if you had a Cilatrian lace marriage bracelet. 

Coran left the two newlyweds to themselves, laughing as he calls them newlyweds and walks out of the lounge. 

Shiro is blushing, so is Lance, but Shiro is the one who recovers first. 

“I won’t ask you any questions.” Shiro says, “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, and I’m going to try to not put you in a position that forces any answers from you.” 

Lance opens his mouth, and closes it again, he's thinking. The cute expression from earlier appears on his face for a moment before Lance smooths it out to a soft smile. “Can you ask me a question now? A simple one, so I know how it feels?” Lance’s face freezes, and he looks away with an awkward laugh. “I mean, you really didn't talk to me on the way back, or when we told Allura, or on the planet after I asked you what the monarch wanted, I don't know if I accidentally hurt you or..? I’m sorry! If I did! Just..” 

Lance brings his eyes up back to meet Shiro’s and Shiro feels his heart skip a beat for a moment. 

“Can you talk to me again?” 

Shiro realizes that he really hadn’t talked to Lance much at all after the ceremony, not wanting Lance to feel uncomfortable. He didn’t realize that he was pushing Lance away. 

“Ah! Sorry!” Shiro feels the question bury in his chest and the truth slides from his heart before Shiro could even think about it consciously. “I always want to talk to you, Lance.” 

Both feel the flare of heat on their ears, a blush, and Shiro wants to die a little inside. “I mean! Yes! I can ask you a question!” Shiro is trying to keep his emotions contained, and he does what he always does when he feels like the situation is out of control. 

He takes a breath, lets himself reassess the situation and reexamine it from many angles. 

The simplest question, Shiro could be so dangerous here and go for gold and ask for anything he wanted. Lance was looking expectantly, waiting and listening for Shiro’s question. Shiro could ask for his name, his age, hair color, eye color. 

Or he could ask Lance if he loved him. 

But that would, could, ruin the relationship between them now. The soft kind of new bud that neither wanted to upset or else they would ruin it. 

“What’s your favourite color.” Shiro chickens out, and watches Lance’s reaction to the forceful truth. 

“Blue!” The answer is jerked out of him, and Lance’s face looks surprised and amazed. He laughs, face scrunched up in happiness. 

Shiro’s shoulders relax, and he lets go of the breath he didn't know he had been holding. 

The two of them would be fine these next four months, he knew it. 

Maybe he would eventually get the nerve to ask Lance how he felt about Shiro, but that wouldn’t be for a while yet. 

Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t be so bad. 

(In three and a half months Lance accidentally slips up on their song and dance, Shiro spills his love.)

(Lance kisses him to shut him up.)


End file.
